


third

by ushijima ebooks (bokutowl)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Graduation Fic, M/M, future fic too kinda, hanakunikyou, looks 2 the sun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-06-10
Packaged: 2018-04-03 17:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4109641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokutowl/pseuds/ushijima%20ebooks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kunimi Akira has watched two graduations, and has two buttons to prove it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	third

**Author's Note:**

> this has to do with the japanese practice of, at your graduation, giving the second button on your uniform to the person important to you. (because the second button is closest to your heart.)
> 
> this is just.... a little thing i wrote.... goodbye naow

            This is the third graduation that Kunimi Akira has been to. First year, second year, and now third year. He doesn’t have any brothers and sisters to see, or even any close-by relatives to peek out on. It’s just been him every single year— or rather, him watching the third years graduate almost each and every time.

            Kunimi Akira has watched two graduations and had two buttons to prove it.

            “I only have so many buttons to give out,” Hanamaki had chided, despite the curl of his lips in one of his typical lazy smirks. “You should only be so lucky.” And when the second button of his senior’s uniform dropped into his outstretched palm, it felt like something close to a weight. That weight was the realization of the situation donning on the future second-year.

            And when Hanamaki’s smirk softened into a smile at the very last minute, just before he turned around to walk away, out of the graduation and towards more, bigger things, that weight got so much heavier.

            Kunimi hadn’t said anything then, not out loud, but the shaking of his clenched palm and the sagging of his shoulders had definitely said near volumes.

            The second graduation that Kunimi watched, he liked to think that he was a little bit more prepared for it. He knew what was coming, that constricting feeling when he saw the third years walk up, diploma in hand, smiles on their face.

            (Well, at least, the smiles that _should_ be on their face.)

            Kunimi really wasn’t that prepared, though.

            “Open your hand.” It seemed like out of all the third years in the entire school, Kyoutani was the only one that had managed to keep a frown on his face the entire time. The team had gotten to know him so much better, though, had gotten to know that many times his frowns were forced. This had seemed like one of those times.

            And when Kunimi opened his palm, and a button dropped in it, a weight in his stomach dropped as well.

            For the sake of his memory, for the sake of trying to save face, Kunimi really hoped that he had been imagining when Kyoutani’s lips had twisted into the slightest of smiles before the shorter boy had crammed his hands into his pockets and walked away.

            He’d love to say that the weight of those buttons went away with his own third year, with all the things he had to worry about concerning the volleyball club, graduation, what he planned to do next— but they hadn’t. They stayed heavy, sewed on the inside of his bookbag somewhere safe that only he knows so he doesn’t have to explain to anyone. The closer and closer he got to the end of the year, the heavier the buttons got.

            At the third graduation Kunimi Akira attended, those buttons felt like stones. They got heavier every single time he looked into the sea of people, looking for two people in particular, and felt near-suffocating when he didn’t spot them. His grip on the diploma in his hands tightened, and--

            When two hands nudged his back, the weight kinda lifted.

            “Kyou, you’re being rude. You know I was first.”

            “Eat a dick. You just followed me ‘cause you didn’t know where he was.”

            Hanamaki just gave a light hum, not even refuting, which seemed to irritate Kyoutani just a little bit more. He apparently gave up on the discussion though, in favor of turning his gaze back towards Kunimi. The both of them still had their hands outstretched, as if they were expecting something.

            “Well? Who gets it, Akira?” Kunimi stared at Hanamaki a moment, then looked down at his jacket, the second button, then looked back up.

            Oh.

            Well.

            This had been, thankfully, the one thing he had planned for. Disregarding Hanamaki’s curious expression and Kyoutani’s confused frown, Kunimi dug in his bag, in the inside pocket, and ripped out the two buttons there.

            Then he ripped of his own and closed them all in his palm.

            “You—” Before Kyoutani could finish, Kunimi gave a button to him, then a button to Hanamaki, and held the last one for himself. It took a moment, maybe two, for Hanamaki’s expression to go from curious to thoughtful, then to go to one of his smirks that seemed an awfully lot like a smile. It took a little bit longer than that for Kyoutani to do anything, going from a little red, to a lot red, to just his ears burning a little.

            The entire time, Kunimi smiled; it was a light one, a smile that reached his eyes just a bit but didn’t hide the tightening of his chest. But when Hanamaki pulled him into a hug, and Kyoutani as well, that tightening of his chest disappeared along with the weight of all those buttons.

            At the end of the day, Kunimi Akira has been to three graduations, and has one button to prove it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know man I DON'T KNOW


End file.
